{"id":662782,"date":"2026-01-08T03:28:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T03:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/662782\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T03:28:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T03:28:30","slug":"meet-the-new-49ers-linebackers-who-can-build-the-bridge-to-fred-warner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/662782\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the new 49ers\u2019 linebackers who can build the bridge to Fred Warner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fred Warner sightings in the 49ers locker room during the open media period have been rare since early October, when the superstar linebacker dislocated and fractured his ankle.<\/p>\n

Warner has essentially lived for the speedy reconstruction of his ankle since then, spending about six hours daily in rehabilitation and entire nights sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber. Warner has been dead set on returning this season; he hasn\u2019t exactly had downtime to dawdle when reporters are present. <\/p>\n

That made Wednesday\u2019s appearance notable.<\/p>\n

Warner strode into the locker room while reporters scrummed around 49ers linebacker Eric Kendricks, who\u2019ll be starting at Warner\u2019s position in the middle of the defense during Sunday\u2019s playoff showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles.<\/p>\n

Warner inserted himself into the back of the gaggle, reaching his left hand \u2014 which was holding an invisible microphone \u2014 over reporters in Kendricks\u2019 direction. Before many could notice his antics, Warner laughed and skipped away toward his locker. <\/p>\n

Consider it a brief visual appetizer of what might be at stake when the 49ers travel back East this weekend. Their defense is depleted \u2014 Kendricks will become the 49ers\u2019 fourth starting middle linebacker this season \u2014\u00a0but another scrappy victory could complete the bridge back to Warner\u2019s return and the explosion of hope that would follow. <\/p>\n

The 49ers have publicly said that an NFC Championship Game return for Warner is on the table, but rumblings from the locker room suggest it might be possible even sooner \u2014\u00a0next week. Either way, it\u2019s up to Kendricks and his cohorts to keep the dream alive as 4.5-point underdogs entering Philadelphia this weekend. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to eat our vegetables on first and second down \u2014\u00a0thats\u2019s going to be super important,\u201d Kendricks said of the challenge in facing quarterback Jalen Hurts and an Eagles team that\u2019s deadly on third-and-short. \u201cThis is the league. There\u2019s always going to be pressure on you as a player. You\u2019ve always got to rise to the occasion. I trust my preparation as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 49ers are turning to 33-year-old Kendricks, who was an All-Pro for the Minnesota Vikings in 2019, to fill in after Tatum Bethune suffered a season-ending groin tear in last week\u2019s loss to the Seattle Seahawks<\/a>. They also signed 29-year-old veteran linebacker Kyzir White this week. He has a chance to start at the weak-side linebacker position, because Dee Winters, who suffered an ankle injury against Seattle, didn\u2019t practice Wednesday and may not play in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I can play,\u201d said White, who\u2019s been working out at home since mutually parting ways with the Tennessee Titans \u2014 hoping for an opportunity with a contending team \u2014\u00a0early last month. \u201cHopefully, I can help the team in any capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 49ers are more desperate for defensive help ahead of the playoffs than they\u2019ve been at any point since the 1998 season, when they entered a wild-card playoff game against the Green Bay Packers decimated along the defensive line. The 49ers signed eventual Hall of Fame defensive lineman Charles Haley, who\u2019d been out of football for nearly two years at that point, days ahead of that game \u2014\u00a0which they ended up winning (thanks in part to a Haley pressure that coaxed a Brett Favre interception) in dramatic fashion when Terrell Owens made one of the most famous catches in franchise history. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

More than a quarter century later, every single 49ers\u2019 linebacker who made the team\u2019s initial 53-man roster is hurt. GM John Lynch, seeing the alarming trend, signed Kendricks to the practice squad in late November. He has spent the six weeks since conditioning, learning the 49ers\u2019 playbook, and preparing to contribute at all three linebacker spots.<\/p>\n

Kendricks is now locked in where he\u2019s most familiar: the middle linebacker position that is assigned the defense\u2019s one helmet with a play-calling radio in it.<\/p>\n

Today<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

4 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Wednesday, Dec. 31<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where I\u2019m very comfortable at,\u201d Kendricks said. \u201cOther positions were a little more challenging for me. I can be more verbal now that I understand the defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he believes that White, because he\u2019s auditioning for the more free-wheeling weak-side linebacker spot, can learn the ropes extra quickly. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re well-coached,\u201d Kendricks said. \u201cThey got me up to speed, so I have no doubt they\u2019re going to get him up to speed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the 49ers won\u2019t say the quiet part out loud, it\u2019s clear they\u2019re hoping for addition-by-subtraction by plugging these veteran linebackers into their defense. Bethune, Winters, and reserve Garret Wallow \u2014\u00a0signed last month to be a special teams contributor \u2014 all struggled mightily against Seattle. The trio combined for seven missed tackles. The Seahawks exposed linebackers firing the incorrect gap multiple times, including Bethune on the game\u2019s lone touchdown,\u00a0a long Zach Charbonnet scoring run. Wallow also couldn\u2019t shed a block on a demoralizing third-and-17 that Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III turned into a 20-yard first down.<\/p>\n

Above all else, the 49ers need to stabilize their run defense \u2014 especially with Hurts\u2019 legs and Philadelphia superstar back Saquon Barkley threatening them next. The 49ers\u2019 run defense has ranked No. 26 in expected points added (EPA) per play since Week 10, when defensive lineman Mykel Williams \u2014\u00a0a premium edge-setter \u2014 tore his ACL. That loss necessitated better linebacker play that the 49ers have simply not been able to muster, especially since Warner\u2019s all-world talent has been on the shelf since Week 6.<\/p>\n

Enter Kendricks and White, who posted 138 and 137 tackles for the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals, respectively, last season.<\/p>\n

The 49ers were certainly frustrated with Kendricks before that 2024 campaign, when he verbally committed to signing with them but instead inked with Dallas to join his former coach, Mike Zimmer \u2014\u00a0who was then the Cowboys\u2019 defensive coordinator. (The 49ers\u2019 backup plan to Kendricks was linebacker De\u2019Vondre Campbell, who signed but then quit on the team during an early December game.)<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve also had their frustrations with White, who sealed an early-season 2024 win against the 49ers for Arizona with an interception of quarterback Brock Purdy. Three years prior that, in August 2021, White \u2014\u00a0then with the Los Angeles Chargers \u2014 and 49ers\u2019 coach Kyle Shanahan engaged in a yelling match at a training camp joint practice in Orange County. <\/p>\n

Shanahan took exception to White tackling then-49ers running back Raheem Mostert to the ground, a practice no-no. <\/p>\n

\u201cI do remember that,\u201d Shanahan said Wednesday, laughing. \u201cI\u2019ll finish that beef with him today.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, a reporter asked White about that same incident. The linebacker also chortled in response.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you keep bringing that up?\u201d White said, smiling. \u201cI\u2019m trying to play this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not long after that, Warner strode into the room \u2014 offering the reminder of what exactly is on the line as the 49ers\u2019 depleted defense desperately claws to extend its season. <\/p>\n

Extra point<\/p>\n

Neither left tackle Trent Williams (hamstring) nor wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (knee) practiced Wednesday. There is, however, optimism that Williams can return this week \u2014\u00a0and Pearsall, who did practice last week even though Shanahan said he\u2019d aggravated his PCL injury against the Chicago Bears, worked on the side Wednesday.<\/p>\n

It stands to reason that the 49ers may need both of these players against the Eagles, the reigning Super Bowl champions who are playing at a very high level defensively. The 49ers couldn\u2019t consistently protect Purdy and separate downfield in their 13-3 loss to Seattle, and Philadelphia has delivered a 40.2% pressure rate this season. <\/p>\n

The good news for the 49ers: Whenever their quarterbacks \u2014 Purdy and Mac Jones \u2014\u00a0have had a modicum of support this season, they\u2019ve succeeded.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,7,2812,6,1161,252,2624,2623,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-662782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kyle-shanahan","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-san-francisco","13":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","14":"tag-sanfrancisco","15":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115857360005092853","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}